I’m interested to find out about any research in Social Psychology on
the activity of Social Networking. This includes what people tend to
do and say when they first meet each other, what information they give
each other, and of course any literature directly on the activity and
practices of meeting people and networking. Additionally I am
interested to know if there is any Social Psychology Literature on
Ice-breakers.
I am specifically interested in real academic Social Psychology
research. No opinions, baseless theory or pseudo-science please.
Thank you very much!
Dear Harry,
Social psychology is an inter-disciplinary field. It deals, if to be
broad, with the social influences on individual(s) and on group
behavior, including interactions between people and in your specific
case, "ice breakers" - how other individuals influence our thoughts,
our feelings and our social behaviour.
There are several text books and other academic sources that might fit
your interest.
First, as a text book, many universities use
Myers, D. G. (1996). Social Psychology (6th ed.). New York: McGraw
Hill.
Other textbooks might be:
Halberstadt, A. G., & Ellyson, S. L. (1990). Social Psychology
Readings: A Century of Research. McGraw-Hill, Inc: New York
Serge Moscovici (2001). Social Representations: Explorations in Social
Psychology New York University Press
Mary Jo Deegan (1989) American Ritual Dramas: Social Rules and
Cultural Meanings. Greenwood Press
More specifically for your subject, you can try:
Miller, G. R., Burgoon, M., and J. K. Burgoon, (1984), The Functions
of Human Communication in Changing Attitudes and Gaining Compliance,
in C, C. Arnold and J. W, Bowers (eds.), Handbook of Rhetorical and
Communication Theory, Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 400-74.
Petty, R. E. and D. T. Wegener, (1998), Attitude Change: Multiple
Roles for Persuasion Variables, in The Handbook of Social Psychology,
4th ed., D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey, eds., Boston:
McGraw-Hill, vol.1, 535-548.
Tyler, T. R, and R. A. Schuller, (1991), Aging and Attitude Change,
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 689-97.
In the experimental levels, several researches on inter-group
interactions and "first meetings" were made. For example:
Gleicher, F. and R. E. Petty, (1992), Expectations of Reassurance
Influence the Nature of Fear- Stimulated Attitude Change, Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 86-100.
Chang, M. and C. R. Gruner, (1981), Audience Reaction to
Self-disparaging Humor, SSCJ, 419- 26.
There are several researches on the means used to "break the ice"
(animals, alcohol, humour, etc.):
Mugford, R. A. and M'Comisky, J. G. (1975) Some recent work on the
psychotherapeutic value of caged birds with old people. In Pet Animals
and Society. Ed. R. S. Anderson. pp. 54 65. Baillere Tindall, London.
Monahan, J.L. & Lannutti, P. J. (2000). Alcohol as social lubricant:
Alcohol myopia theory, social self-esteem and social interaction.
Human Communication Research.
Berlyne, D. E. (1969). Laughter, humor and play. In G. Lindzey & E.
Aronson (Eds.) Handbook of Social Psychology (vol. 3) Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Kane, T., Suls, J., and J. Tedeschi, (1977), Humour as a Tool of
Social Interaction, in A. Chapman and H. Foot (Eds.), It's a Funny
thing, Humour, Oxford: Pergamon, 13-16.
Wanzer, M. B., Booth-Butterfield, M. and S. Booth Butterfield (1996),
Are Funny People Popular? An Examination of Humor Orientation,
Loneliness, and Social Attraction, CQ, 42-52.
There are a lot of research done on "ice breakers" in social
psychology in the context of teaching:
Bauer, H. H., & Snizek, W. E. (1989, July). Encouraging students in
large classes to ask questions: Some promising results from classes in
chemistry and sociology. Teaching Sociology, 17(3), 337 340.
Beebe, Steven A. and John T. Masterson. 1982. Communicating in Small
Groups:
Principals and Practices.
Ekachai, D. G. (1996), Diversity Icebreaker, SCT, Spring, 14-15.
Harcum, E. R. (1991, October). Rap singing as an icebreaker for large
classes. Teaching of Psychology, 18(3), 181-182.
Witte, K. and K. Morrison, (1995), Using Scare Tactics to Promote
Safer Sex Among Juvenile Detention and High School Youth, ACR,
128-142.
and:
Rothwell, D. (1992). In mixed company: Small group communication.
Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace.
Thomas, E.J. and C.F. Fink. 1961. "Models of Group Problem Solving".
Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 1
It is also discussed in corporate/work setting, see for example:
Amabile, T. M. (1998, Sept.-Oct.). How to kill creativity. Harvard
Business Review, 77-87.
Ford, C. M. (1999). Corporate culture. In M. A. Runco & S. R.
Pritzker (Eds.), Encyclopedia of creativity. Volume one (pp.
385-393). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Shamir, B., Zakav E., Breinin, E., and Popper, M. (1998), Correlates
of Charismatic Leader Behavior in Military Units: Subordinates’
Attitudes, Unit of Characteristics, and Superiors’ Appraisals of
Leader Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 387-409.
West, R. (1993), Can We Talk? Using the Personal Reference Inventory
as an Icebreaker, SCT, Summer, 12-13.
Search terms used:
+"social psychology" +syllabus ice (the reason I used the work
syllabus is that there are many academic ayllabus online, that are a
golden source to know what the professors in this field think it's
important that you'd read)
+"social psychology" "ice breaker"
+"social psychology" "icebreaker"
+"social psychology" "social lubricant"
Please contact me if you need anything else. I also recommend you,
after you read the sources, to search their own bibliography and
sources; and more books or articles by the same authors. Moreover, I
would recommend to consult with a professor of social psychology -
they would be usually happy to help.
Political Guru Ga
Let me clarify, I am a research fellow, I know what social psychology
is, I know how to get a list of basic social psychology text books and
how to do a google search thank you very much.
You have provided me with a few relevant references, presumably from
psychlit, bids or some similar bib search tool.
BUT, YOU HAVE NOT ANSWERED MY QUESTION. You have not explained or
described anything. I'm sorry but providing me with a long list of
references is by no means an answer. I do not mean to be rude but I am
paying for this service.
Dear Harry,
I apologise for the misunderstanding, but in your question it was not
stated that you're looking for bibliographic material other than can
be found on line (all was stated was that you're looking for
"academic" material; I have also found plenty of non-academic
articles, but have not posted them here). Nowhere in the question it
was stated that these sources need to be abstracted or otherwise
clarified. I am sure that as a research fellow you know that your
research questions should be as specific as possible to get the
information you need - your title specifically asks for "literature".
However, I would be more than pleased to assist you if you explained
what you're looking for. Is it clarification of the main theories and
approaches? Is it current research discussions on the subject?
SCT is "Speech Communication Teacher" journal (it is called today
Communication Teacher and might prove helpful for your project, see
<a href="http://www.natcom.org/pubs/ct/CT%20Index.htm">http://www.natcom.org/pubs/ct/CT%20Index.htm">http://www.natcom.org/pubs/ct/CT%20Index.htm">http://www.natcom.org/pubs/ct/CT%20Index.htm</a>)
 Walking/Running Puppy - Advise needed
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Social Psychology literature needed on the practice of 'Social Networking'